Former SAD sarpanch held for sexually harassing 29-yr-old woman in Tarn Taran

A former sarpanch of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was arrested on Thursday for alleged sexual harassment of a 29-yearold woman in Khalra village, 30km from the district headquarters, police said.

The accused Ranjit Singh, a former sarpanch of Narli village, was arrested on the complaint of a woman, who works as a helper in a private hospital at Tarn Taran. In her complaint, the woman stated that the incident took place on Wednesday evening she was waiting for a bus at Khalra bus stop.

“At around 5:45pm, the accused reached at the bus stop in his Hyundai i 20 car and asked me to sit in the car. When I refused, he started insisting me and said he would drop me at my place as he knew my husband,” she said, adding that when she sat in the car the accused started forcing her to go to Amritsar with him ‘for making physical relations’, to which she strongly refuted.

“When I asked the accused to stop the car, he sped it up and started harassing me sexually. He tore my clothes,” the woman said in her complaint.

“Later, I jumped from the car and the accused fled from the spot. I then called my husband who reached at the spot and took me home,” she said.

A case was registered by Khalra police under Sections 354 (assault and outraging woman’s modesty), 354 A (2) (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.